Advanced Tips to Make You a Better Overwatch Player

11 advanced tips and tricks to make you better at Overwatch

Now the dust has settled from the launch you've probably had time to get acquainted with Overwatch a bit. But what if you want to become one of those higher tier, next level players? Look no further! We've set down some really useful tips and tactics that we've seen players using in game - you know, those really good ones that seem to always get Play of the Game and could probably take on a whole team by themselves - to help kick your own game up a gear.

Genji's deflect works on pretty much anything

If you've spent a bit of time with Genji you've probably enjoyed the benefits of his Deflect ability. What you may not know is it works on almost any attack, including Hanzo's ultimate attack, the Dragonstrike. Sending that pair of dragons flying back at the enemy team can be a nasty surprise for them. You can also deflect the healing drop of Soldier 76 if you see him throwing it out - doing so means it won't heal him, and will give you the benefit instead. Neat!

Support your support

When you're playing as a team you're supposed to all help each other out. Support characters aren't there to just serve the rest of you; they need you to help them help you! That means that if you're far out from the group and close to the enemy front line don't expect a Zenyatta or a Mercy to haul ass out there too just because you're spamming that you need a heal. Staying in their line of sight will allow them to heal and get to you if and when you need it. Support characters are generally weaker to account for the usefulness they have on the battlefield, so be aware of that and don't leave them undefended because you're trying to get a sextuple kill with your tank, or whatever. If your support goes down then you could easily all go with them.

Be creative with flanking and shortcuts

Some characters have much more mobility when it comes to getting around the map, and are, coincidentally, often the ones that are great for flanking and harassing the other team. When you're travelling across the map with someone like Tracer, Genji, Reaper, or even the support hero Lúcio, look for routes you can take by using your specific abilities - say, Tracer's Blink, or Genji's passive double jump. It'll often surprise the enemy if you come from somewhere they weren't expecting. With these abilities and some imagination you can often speed right around the edge of a map and get to a control point or the back of the enemy without them even noticing.

Take advantage of the hitboxes

It's not as hard to get headshots as you might think. The hitboxes for projectile attacks in Overwatch are big, not just for one specific character, but for all of them. This might get patched in the future, but for now you can aim a little to the side or above your actual target and still get a hit. This is particularly useful for snipers, but the hitbox for Roadhog's hook chain is unbelievable, so spam that bad boy. Haha, spam, because Roadhog, get it?

Roadhog's hook can grab a load of stuff

Related to the above. Roadhog's Chain Hook ability is often used for a grapple in/close up shotgun to the face combination attack, which can, it's fair to say, kill some characters in one go. We're not having a go at that. But the Chain Hook is capable of so much more! You can use it to grab an enemy Bastion in Sentry mode, which forces him to go back into his less dangerous Recon stance. You can pull enemies across gaps and drops in the environment to fall to their deaths, or into traps. You can even grab Junkrat's RIP-Tire with it, which diverts it away from your team and lets you disarm it easily (and stops the Junkrat getting an inevitable Play of the Game).

Traps and turrets use health kits

If you place one of Junkrat's traps or a builder's turret on top of a health kit it'll consume the healthkit if it gets damaged, which means if an enemy is running for that healthkit they'll either a) not notice the trap/turret and run straight into it or b) try and get rid of the trap/turret and thus lose the medkit anyway.

Consider a noble self sacrifice

There are times when you might be able to save the whole team, but it would necessitate your own death. And that might be the right choice. If D.Va has just sent in her mech to self destruct, maybe you're a Reinhardt and you can push it away from the group. Maybe McCree is activating Deadeye and you, a Roadhog, can pull him to you and out of his line of sight with the others. This moments are situational, but they crop up quite a bit, and it's often better for the team if you die so they can live.

Mei's Ice Wall is also a lift

This is another ability that you can use creatively. Mei's Ice Wall is really useful for blocking damage, doorways, and stopping payloads, but you can also use it in the pregame stage to get less mobile heroes, like Torbjörn and Bastion, up to positions that they'd ordinarily have trouble reaching. All you need to do is get them in position near the point they're trying to reach, and then aim the Ice Wall underneath them. When it appears they'll be lifted on top of it. Play around with it! We've seen a Mei use her Ice Wall to lift offense heroes up in the middle of a fight.

Don't walk over dead Junkrats

Junkrat drops grenades on his death. They can and will kill you even after he's gone.

Use the environment

Aside from learning the chokepoints and shortcuts that every map comes with, get to know some of the topographical features. Sometimes you don't have to do enough damage to kill players outright, you just need to knock them somewhere they don't want to be. A lot of the maps have drops to certain death, and if you have an ability that can push them back (Lúcio and Reinhardt, for example) or just a messy weapon that knocks people around (Roadhog; Junkrat) then you can send them straight over the edge for a really quick kill.

If a tank is trying to help you let them help you

If a tank has put a shield up, stay behind it. You can shoot through friendly barriers and not get damaged at the same time. It's a revelation! You probably already knew this, but it's remarkable how often it seems to slip people's minds in the middle of the match, which is when it would be most crucial to remember it.